Construction Update: Patient Rooms & Park Avenue Complete

Park Avenue Entrance Ready

The Park Avenue entrance to the FMH parking garage is ready for use as soon as the east facing entrance is closed down for construction. The entry and exit gates have been installed and all that is left to do is to place the exterior gates that will keep the entrance-way locked down after construction of the parking garage is complete.

Per the hospital’s agreement with the city and our neighbors, only 250 card-access permissions have been distributed to physicians; and to the hospital’s contract valet employees who will be using that entrance to park visitors’ vehicles in the garage during construction. Vehicles that do not have entry permission will not be able to exit through that portal as the exit gate is also card controlled. When construction of the garage is completed, the Park Avenue entrance will be permanently closed and will be available for use only in the case of an emergency situation.

Progress Along Emma Smith Drive

Construction of the storm water runoff management system is continuing along Emma Smith Drive. Construction has run into a couple of “bumps” along the way as the rainy weather has turned some of the trenches into canals and mud bogs. In addition, as is the case with nearly all large construction projects, some unexpected communication line conduits were unearthed crossing the path of where the drainage pipes are to be put into place. It was just a matter of lifting the communication lines and sliding the large metal tubes underneath. It was exacting work as care had to be taken not to harm the communication lines and the process slowed things down just a bit.

Work is continuing at a rapid pace as there are time and temperature constraints around the paving of Emma Smith Drive. The work has to be accomplished before the weather gets too cold to pour the asphalt. The project is on schedule to be completed before the end of the year.

New 4A Nursing Unit Opens

Patients were moved into the newly renovated private patient rooms on the fourth floor on Thursday, November 15th. The spacious new rooms offer the very latest in technology and patient comfort. Each room has a large bathroom and shower, and plenty of room to safely store the patient’s belongings.

Ruth B. was the first patient moved from the second floor into the newly-renovated 4A unit. She was very pleased with the decor, exclaiming “I’m in Frederick Memorial Hospital wonderland!” as she settled into the new room.

The move also launched a new patient grouping system wherein patients with like diagnosis, who may require like – or similar – care protocols will be housed on the same unit. Cardiac patients will be on a unit with other cardiac patients; chest patients will be on a unit with other chest patients, etc. This new nursing unit configuration will allow for an enhanced level of patient care as the providers on the units will be experts in providing the specific kind of care the patients require. In addition, physician specialists will not have to travel throughout the hospital to visit their patients. Cardiac patients will always be on the same unit; lung patients will always be housed on the same unit, etc. This will allow the physicians to spend more time with each of their patients.

With the fourth floor renovations completed, the hospital has come to an end of its patient room remodeling process.

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